Black Swan
“I felt it. Perfect. It was perfect.“
──── ୨୧ ────
This movie is one that can’t be purely described by words, and any attempt to try just seems lackluster in comparison to the film itself. Black Swan is a raw portrayal of perfectionism and the paranoia that stems from it, emulated through ballet.
It’s no secret that the ballet industry is competitive at best, and at its worst a breeding ground for manipulative and toxic behaviour. The decision to use a sport seen as feminine and regal was absolute genius, because Nina puts herself up to this standard, but both the industry and Nina crack under pressure to reveal a darker, sinister truth laying dormant.
To most viewers it’s quite obvious that Nina’s perfectionist nature comes from both an internal dialogue, as well as her mothers encouragement, but what many fail to see is that Nina does not see perfectionism as a goal. She instead views perfectionism as a value, a way of life. Throughout the movie she continues to push herself to her breaking point, and even past it, not because she wants the role of the swan queen, but because she wants to embrace her mentality that being perfect is achievable forever. The reason this causes conflict is because it is not, and trying to push yourself to something that doesn’t exist will only break you.
The climax and resolution of the movie come when Nina believes that perfectionism is NOT something sustainable, but instead is attainable and yet still valuable. While the implications through the text say that she is wrong, as we (the viewers) know, being perfect is not something that exists, only when Nina believes she can be, does she experience that fleeting moment of happiness, before death. This shows that trying to obtain that perfect clarity that is “being perfect” will only destroy you from the inside out, but believing that you can be the best you can be, can fulfil you, as long as you don’t let it control you as she has.
This review got a bit muddled and convoluted as I went on, and the more I thought more about the movie, my opinions changed and developed. Like I said before, I don’t think you can accurately describe the feeling this movie captures so well, so I just recommend you give it a watch yourself, and try to derive something valuable.